Streamflow Generation across the Diverse Tropics: Heterogeneity, Evidence Gaps, and Hydrological Implications

Abstract Tropical streamflow research has been shaped disproportionately by work in humid-forest catchments and a small number of disturbed or experimental sites, despite the much wider diversity of streamflow-generating environments across the solar tropics. Drylands, tectonically active rift zones, volcanic landscapes, karst terrain, wetlands, grasslands, internally drained basins, and other diverse tropical environments are comparatively underrepresented in process-based hydrological research. This synthesis examines how climate, landforms, and subsurface structure jointly shape streamflow generation across these and other settings. Two organizing principles recur across contrasting environments: subsurface storage architecture and threshold-controlled connectivity. Fault-controlled aquifers, volcanic and karst substrates, and internally drained basins exert strong but contrasting controls on streamflow generation, storage, and persistence, and can heighten sensitivity to longer-term climatic variation and land-use change. Site-level mechanistic understanding is strongest in systems with sustained, process-based observations, such as Andean páramos, selected montane cloud-forest catchments, glacier-fed systems, volcanic landscapes, and a small number of intensively studied seasonally dry catchments. Persistent uncertainty in subsurface–surface linkages and threshold dynamics across many regions constrains both process understanding and management. Closing these gaps requires sustained, process-resolving observations across underrepresented tropical landscapes, particularly those where livelihoods depend on streamflow regimes most sensitive to climatic and anthropogenic change.

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Publication Details

Journal
ACS ES&T Water
Published
2026-10-05
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1021/acsestwater.5c01087
Primary Topic
Hydrology and Watershed Management Studies
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
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article

Streamflow Generation across the Diverse Tropics: Heterogeneity, Evidence Gaps, and Hydrological Implications

John Walker Recha, Pierre Taillardat, Roy C. Sidle, Junjiro N. Negishi et al.
ACS ES&T Water
Hydrology and Watershed Management Studies
article

Streamflow Generation across the Diverse Tropics: Heterogeneity, Evidence Gaps, and Hydrological Implications

John Walker Recha, Pierre Taillardat, Roy C. Sidle, Junjiro N. Negishi, Jean‐Lambert Join, Alan D. Ziegler, Giovanny M. Mosquera, Lyssette Elena Muñoz‐Villers, Leendert Adrian Bruijnzeel, Christian Birkel, Edgardo Manuel Latrubesse, Sorain J. Ramchunder, Paolo Billi, Siti Nurhidayu, Bryan Greenwood Mark, Jaivime Evaristo, Kegan K. Farrick, Lutz Breuer, Spencer H. Wood, Han She Lim
article en

Abstract

Abstract Tropical streamflow research has been shaped disproportionately by work in humid-forest catchments and a small number of disturbed or experimental sites, despite the much wider diversity of streamflow-generating environments across the solar tropics. Drylands, tectonically active rift zones, volcanic landscapes, karst terrain, wetlands, grasslands, internally drained basins, and other diverse tropical environments are comparatively underrepresented in process-based hydrological research. This synthesis examines how climate, landforms, and subsurface structure jointly shape streamflow generation across these and other settings. Two organizing principles recur across contrasting environments: subsurface storage architecture and threshold-controlled connectivity. Fault-controlled aquifers, volcanic and karst substrates, and internally drained basins exert strong but contrasting controls on streamflow generation, storage, and persistence, and can heighten sensitivity to longer-term climatic variation and land-use change. Site-level mechanistic understanding is strongest in systems with sustained, process-based observations, such as Andean páramos, selected montane cloud-forest catchments, glacier-fed systems, volcanic landscapes, and a small number of intensively studied seasonally dry catchments. Persistent uncertainty in subsurface–surface linkages and threshold dynamics across many regions constrains both process understanding and management. Closing these gaps requires sustained, process-resolving observations across underrepresented tropical landscapes, particularly those where livelihoods depend on streamflow regimes most sensitive to climatic and anthropogenic change.

ACS ES&T Water
Boise State University (US), Universiti Putra Malaysia (MY), National Parks Board (SG), Nanyang Technological University (SG), King's College London (GB), Yunnan University (CN), Kasetsart University (TH), Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen (DE), Université Paris Cité (FR), Hokkaido University (JP), Tottori University of Environmental Studies (JP), University of Reunion Island (RE), Universidad de Costa Rica (CR), Business University of Costa Rica (CR), University of the West Indies (BS), Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (DE), Tottori University (JP), The Ohio State University (US), International Livestock Research Institute (KE), Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (PE), Universidade Federal de Goiás (BR), James Cook University (AU), Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (MX)
Openalex Percentile: Top 23%
Hydrology and Watershed Management Studies
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